We note that your clients' PODCAST READY and MYPODDER marks consist in substantial part of Apple's IPOD mark, and contain Apple's POD mark in its entirety...

Thus goes one sentence from the two-page letter that Apple's lawyers sent to Podcast Ready's lawyers. Since we don't have permission to display the letter, we instead offer a quick summary of the high notes of just exactly who owns the rights to the word "Podcast" and "Pod."

• The word "POD" has also been adopted and used extensively in the marketplace by consumers as an abbreviation to refer to Apple's iPod player. (Huh?)
  

• Apple has "no general objection," after all, with the use of the word "Podcast" in "Podcast Ready" - "so as long as it's used as part of a trademark for goods and services offered in the podcasting field."
  
• The guess is that Apple objected to the use of "Pod" in Podcast Ready's "myPodder" software partly because "myPod" sounds like "iPod," and also partly because myPodder is a software designed to manage audio file downloads (in this case, podcasts). That makes the software like iTunes (the letter doesn't reach this conclusion, but we're betting that must be what has Apple tweaked).
  
• That and probably because myPodder is also designed to work with the iPod.

The issue's gotten so far that Leo Laporte, Person of the Year in Podcasting, suggests we could use the word "netcast" instead, if Apple successfully yanks out the word "Pod" from common electronica usage. Speaking of which: do you guys call your iPods or mp3 players "Pods" for short?

"Podcast": noun; a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player. Etymology: iPod + broadcast (via New Oxford American Dictionary)

Podcast Ready must have been surprised to see the "cease-and-desist" letter from Apple, ordering them to stop using the terms "Podcast Ready" and "myPodder" because they infringe on Apple's trademarks and cause confusion among customers. (Podcast Ready refers both to the software that pulls RSS podcasts from the Internet onto a portable mp3 player, and to the company that offers the software.) Huh? Hasn't "podcast" been used as a generic, catch-all term to describe, well, podcasts?

Okay, sure, the word owes itself partly to Apple's iPod (and that's trademarked). But the world has also moved to the point of calling all mp3 players as "iPods", regardless of manufacturer, right? Probably not anymore. In another story, this time reported in Mac News, Apple has applied with the US Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the word "pod" (we guess in reference to its use with any gadget's name, like "iPod").

The iPod is a cool device and all - you'll hear no protest from us. And patents and trademarks, well, they're important, too, especially to protect the inventors of original ideas. But in this case, Apple may need to learn that sometimes, it's nice to rest on one's laurels, too.